diff --git a/act/container/host_environment.go b/act/container/host_environment.go
index c8742008..34d24b9b 100644
--- a/act/container/host_environment.go
+++ b/act/container/host_environment.go
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ type HostEnvironment struct {
 	Workdir   string
 	ActPath   string
 	Root      string
-	CleanUp   func()
 	StdOut    io.Writer
 	LXC       bool
 }
@@ -404,11 +403,12 @@ func (e *HostEnvironment) UpdateFromEnv(srcPath string, env *map[string]string)
 
 func (e *HostEnvironment) Remove() common.Executor {
 	return func(ctx context.Context) error {
-		if e.CleanUp != nil {
-			e.CleanUp()
+		if e.GetLXC() {
+			// there may be files owned by root: removal
+			// is the responsibility of the LXC backend
+			return nil
 		}
-		common.Logger(ctx).Debugf("HostEnvironment.Remove %s", e.Path)
-		return os.RemoveAll(e.Path)
+		return os.RemoveAll(e.Root)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/act/runner/run_context.go b/act/runner/run_context.go
index bb79ad3a..59fcf6f8 100644
--- a/act/runner/run_context.go
+++ b/act/runner/run_context.go
@@ -248,6 +248,8 @@ var stopTemplate = template.Must(template.New("stop").Parse(`#!/bin/bash
 source $(dirname $0)/lxc-helpers-lib.sh
 
 lxc_container_destroy "{{.Name}}"
+lxc_maybe_sudo
+$LXC_SUDO rm -fr "{{ .Root }}"
 `))
 
 func (rc *RunContext) stopHostEnvironment(ctx context.Context) error {
@@ -314,11 +316,8 @@ func (rc *RunContext) startHostEnvironment() common.Executor {
 			ToolCache: rc.getToolCache(ctx),
 			Workdir:   rc.Config.Workdir,
 			ActPath:   actPath,
-			CleanUp: func() {
-				os.RemoveAll(miscpath)
-			},
-			StdOut: logWriter,
-			LXC:    rc.IsLXCHostEnv(ctx),
+			StdOut:    logWriter,
+			LXC:       rc.IsLXCHostEnv(ctx),
 		}
 		rc.cleanUpJobContainer = func(ctx context.Context) error {
 			if err := rc.stopHostEnvironment(ctx); err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/app/run/runner_test.go b/internal/app/run/runner_test.go
index eda5de9e..bbd6c235 100644
--- a/internal/app/run/runner_test.go
+++ b/internal/app/run/runner_test.go
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ jobs:
   job:
     runs-on: lxc
     steps:
-      - run: echo OK
+      - run: mkdir -p some/directory/owned/by/root
 `
 		runWorkflow(ctx, cancel, workflow, "push", "refs/heads/main", "OK")
 	})